The present invention relates to board games and more particularly to improvements in chess games.
In traditional chess, two opposing armies face each other across a playing board of 64 equal squares, eight squares across and eight squares deep. The armies consist of eight foot soldiers called pawns, two rooks (castles), two knights, two bishops, a queen and a king. The rooks, knights, bishops, queen and king are collectively known as "royalty pieces."
The game ends immediately when one player captures the king. As a result, the duration of the game is often short, especially when one of the players is more experienced. Moreover, the popularity of chess notwithstanding, many players have become bored with the repetitiveness of the game.
To overcome these disadvantages, several variations to the game of chess have been suggested in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,626 to Nolte discloses a chesslike game wherein the size of the playing area and the number of chess figures is increased.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,789 to Carlson discloses a chess set comprising a game board fifteen squares wide and twelve squares deep for play by two teams of two players each. A key disadvantage of this type of game is the fact that while the number of game pieces is increased, the actual playing time afforded each player is no more than the playing time of a traditional chess game.
However, these and similar games have not achieved commercial success due in part to the fact that the rules by which these games are played differ from those of the traditional game of chess so as to make play unduly complicated for most players.